By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Emil Wagner's victory in the recent BFL All-American gave him a distinction he's likely to hold for quite some time – if not forever. He's the most accomplished tournament bass fisherman who was born in Denmark.

The 25-year-old didn't actually grow up in the Nordic nation in Northern Europe – his family relocated to the Atlanta when he was 1 1/2 for his father's job with Microsoft, where he worked in sales and programming. It was supposed to be only a 3-year stint, but the Wagners ended up staying permanently.

To his knowledge, there's not a single bass swimming anywhere in his native land, although fishing for perch and carp is fairly popular.

"I used to go back every year before everything got all busy," said Wagner, who speaks fluent Danish. "My parents still go and I was able to spend 3 weeks there around Christmas."

The resident of Marietta, Ga. works as a guide at Lake Lanier. After graduating from Ole Miss in 2021, he spent some time as a member of the marketing team at Pure Fishing, but came to the conclusion that a desk job just didn't suit him.

He was a double-qualifier for the 40th edition of the All-American at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina – he placed 4th in a regional event at Lake Murray and 2nd in another at Smith Lake after after competing in 10 BFLs during the regular season.

"When I saw it was going to be on (Hartwell), that was big; I knew it was something I wanted to be at," he said. "I've fished over there enough and I kind of knew what I was going to do. I went over for a couple days before the cutoff (which was a week prior to the event) and just graphed offshore, then I did more of that during the 2 1/2 days of official practice.

"I wanted to do what I always do at Lanier and other (blueback) herring lakes – find as many good offshore places as possible, whether they were drops or brushpiles or a bunch of fish on a hump or a point."

His goal was to average 18 pounds per day over the derby's 3 days and he ended up exceeding that, catching bags that weighed 18-02, 20-02 and 17-07. His winning margin over runner-up Matthew O'Connell was 1-05.

The victory earned him more than $122,000, plus a berth in next year's REDCREST Championship.

"I had about 12 places that I knew were going to be good for bigger bites and a bunch of places where I could just catch fish," he said. "I got more dialed in as the tournament went on and I ended up with two or three really good places – drops from 6 to 10 feet down to 20 or 30 – and the fish would be on top or just off to the sides of them. I could tell by the way they acted when I threw at them that they hadn't been messed with. As far as I know, I had them to myself.

"The biggest key was just years of having been on those herring lakes all summer and knowing all the micro-adjustments you need to make, whether it's day by day or hour by hour. If the sun goes behind some clouds or the wind picks up on one side of the lake, there are things you can do to time your best stuff and rotate your places correctly. Another big thing was not losing fish, which is almost impossible not to do in a situation like that."

He caught a mix of spotted and largemouth bass using either a 6th Sense Catwalk topwater, a Texas-rigged Zoom Fluke or a Sebile swimbait.

"The morning was more of a Fluke bite, and then when the sun came out I'd catch them on the topwater and the swimbait," he said.

For the topwater, he used a 7' medium-heavy Dobyns Champion rod, a Lew's BB1 casting reel that he's had for many years and 50-pound braided line. For the Fluke, which he attached to a 4/0 Gamakatsu hook, he employed a 7'1" medium-action G. Loomis NRX rod, a Shimano 2500-size spinning real, 15-pound Seaguar Smackdown braid and a 12-pound fluorocarbon leader. His swimbait rod was a 7 1/2-foot medium-heavy Abu Garcia Winch, an 8:1 ratio Abu Garcia Revo casting reel and 15-pound fluorocarbon.

He said he thoroughly enjoys his "day job," be eventually hopes to transition to full-time tournament angling.

"I love guiding and taking people fishing, but I want to be on the Elite Series or the Bass Pro Tour," he said. "Next year I want to fish the (Bassmaster) Opens or the (MLF) Invitationals. I want to get to as high a level as I can."

Notable

> Wagner said his PowerHouse Lithium batteries were a critical component of his program – both the 16-volt that supplied juice to his Garmin electronics and the 36-volt that powered his trolling motor.